Reese turns off the boat’s engine some time later, and we all get to our feet. Beaver Island is a relatively small island with a small year-round population. If the infection has gotten to here, it shouldn’t be too hard to wipe out the infected zombies and make this place safe.
The sun is starting to go down, and it casts a reddish orange glow around the numerous trees, ground, and water. For a second, the island looks so beautiful that I begin to relax and feel at peace for the first time in a while.
Then I notice the blood.
It covers the end of our small dock in thick splashes, and everyone in our group instantly tenses up. Ryder and Reese are the first two off the boat, and Tobe and I follow closely behind. I take the Glock from my belt, and grip it tightly. I hate not knowing what I’m walking into, and this is definitely unknown territory.
When we reach the end of the dock, the trail of blood stops. There’s an armless torso lying in the pool of blood, and I can’t tell how old the body is, but he can’t be older than ten. Tobe and I both stare at him, unable to look away from what’s left of his mangled body.
There are several crescent-shaped bite marks along his shoulders, stomach, and what’s left of his face. There’s a large hole in his stomach, and I can see some of his intestines trailing out. That, plus the scent of blood and the sound of buzzing flies nearly drives me to my knees, and I have to fight to push back the nausea bubbling up.
Tobe loses that fight, and turns away to throw up in the grass, away from the boy’s remains. We let her take care of it in peace and quiet, and when she joins us again, she looks miserable. “It made it all the way out here. Is no place safe?”
“Come on. There’s a house up here on the hill. All we have to do is head up these stairs and walk down the driveway, and we’re home. Let’s carry only what we need for the night, in case we have to make a quick getaway in the morning.”
We all scramble to grab what we need, mostly food, water, and blankets to keep warm. Ryder is the only one not carrying something, but he’s keeping up a vigilant watch over the surrounding trees as we ascend the rickety wooden steps to a house that looks in slight disrepair.
We come out on level ground, and find ourselves standing in front of a large, dark brown wooden home. There are steps leading up to the main floor, and it has a wooden railing that surrounds the deck, giving us something to shoot from in the event of an attack. There’s a beat-up four door sedan in front of the garage, the grass is overgrown, and the trees look bare and dead, but the place definitely looks livable.
We carry our supplies up those stairs, and find the green front door wide open. There’s blood pooling at the front of the door, but no body, meaning that whoever bled to death there didn’t stay dead. Ryder realizes that, and brings up his rifle, going directly into ex-Marine mode.
He quickly checks the house, going room to room, for any signs of life. When he comes back, he’s visibly relaxed, and we all breathe a huge sigh of relief. Reese throws his bag of food down onto the nearest couch, and hops down beside it. He kicks his feet up onto the coffee table, and reclines back. “This might be the first decent night of sleep we’ve gotten in ages.”
“Let’s hope,” Ryder says, grabbing the bag of food from the couch. He heads into the nearby kitchen, and we all follow him. It’s a very small kitchen, but it’s mostly undamaged, aside from a broken cupboard door.
The cabinets are made of light brown wood, and the appliances are white and fairly new. However, there isn’t any electricity, and the fridge and microwave won’t work. While inspecting the rest of the appliances and cupboards, I notice there are magnets and drawings stuck to the fridge. At some point in time, there was a little kid living in this place, and I wonder if it was the boy down at the dock.
I shake off those bad thoughts, grab a can of vegetable beef soup, and take the can opener from Reese. He grins at me over an open can of fruit cocktail. “I feel really good about tonight.”
I nod, and start to slurp at my soup. It’s cold and slightly congealed, but I don’t really care. It feels so nice to be in a semi-safe place, with people I can trust, and decent food, that I’m beginning to feel as optimistic as Reese is. He’s right to look on the bright side, and so am I.
After the four of us finish eating, we take a look around the rest of the house. The place is nice, but it doesn’t reek of money. It has a nice, homey charm to it, until we get to the bedrooms. There are only two of them, so we’ll be doubling up, but it’s not the number of rooms, it’s the way the rooms are.
The first room is a large bedroom with a queen-sized bed, pine dresser and bedside table. It’s pretty basic, and Ryder and Reese will be taking turns sleeping on the bed and on the floor. The second bedroom once belonged to young children, and it makes me uncomfortable being in their rooms, knowing that they’re never going to come back.
There are two twin-sized beds separated by a large pine dresser like the one in the first bedroom, and there is a chest of toys in one corner. The walls are covered in drawings and artwork, and I can tell that it was two boys living in this room. But not anymore.
This is the room Tobe and I will be sharing, and I can’t help but feel like we shouldn’t be here. For a minute, I’m tempted to claim the couch as my own, but I’m going to need a decent night’s sleep if I’m going to help tomorrow. So Tobe and I throw our stuff against the wall, and we strip down to our underwear. As much as I want to sleep in a bed for the first time in days, I can’t do it.
I take a blanket from our supplies, and curl up with it and my sweater. Tobe crawls into bed beside me, and sighs. “How long do you think we’ll be able to stay here?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “But this place seems like it could be fortified. Plus, we know there won’t be any increase in the number of zombies. Once the ones on the island are gone, they’re gone.”
“I know. We might be able to actually start a new life out here. I’m kind of excited.”
I wish I could feel so comfortable here…